It's (arguably) somewhat of a cliché that the opening and ending themes for anime shows are, shall we say, a bit light and fluffy. This is perfect for the average magical girl, ninja boy, space battle, school drama, dragon adventure series, but what about the darker, more serious shows? Evangelion, probably one of the more (if not the most) dark and serious series out there, has a poppy, salsa-esque dance intro. Hell, even Gantz has a funky Rip Slyme tune in the opening. On the other hand, Monster, one of my personal favorites, has a suitably spooky opening, and its two ending themes were excellent, mostly due to the spooky illustrations. (Check out all the videos after the jump.)
Now we have the new opening for Death Note, which is causing a stir in various otaku camps. The song is "What's Up" by Maximum the Hormone, your typical rap/rock screamo-metal band. (Side note: When did metal bands stop worshiping Satan and start worshiping themselves? Guess what kids, Satan will always be way cooler than you.) Not only is the music loud and pummeling, the video is cut in such a way as to make the show look more like some high energy action series than the psychological chess game that it is. For me, this is what an opening should be. It grabs your attention and throws so much information at you that you are left a quivering mass of exposed nerve endings. That, or you hate it. Either way, one must admit that it's not your everyday anime opening.
What do you think? First, what do you think of the new Death Note opening? Second, what's your favorite, or which series do you think has the most innovative, OP/ED? Finally, what series do you think has the most totally wrongest worstest stupidest OP/ED evar ohmygod?
Death Note OP2/1 - ED 2/1
Monster OP/ED
Gantz OP
Evengelion OP
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho OP (suggested by a reader)
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Whoa. The new DN intro made me go "WTF??!!!". I kinda liked it, considering Death Note isn't really a conventional anime/manga, here battles are fought with wits instead of swords so the feel of this intro was much like the story---unconventional.
note: Check out the first season intro of Honey and Clover for another example.
I feel that deathnote can be way more intense then your typical shounen series even could be. I happen to be a fan of Maximum The Hormone as well so I'm not complaining. On the other Akagis "Nantokanare" BEST OPENING EVER
Well, on the subject of OPs, I think Manabi Straight has a sickening opening. Normally I'm unphased by the things that make a lot of people motion-sick (I'm lookin' at you, ZB), but this one has some fake hand-held stuff that makes me want to barf. I suppose it doesn't help that it's both sloshy and goes in and out of focus. [yarg]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P-uj7urcYw
(Also, the ED is a really ugly claymation travesty, especially for such an otherwise über-cute series.)
I really liked Evangelion's opening (and was kinda weirded by the closing), especially the last 10 seconds when it goes uptempo. Both the FMA intros I like, the first closing was good, the last one (with Winry), was god awful fan service that made no sense for the show. I really don't like Suziyama's opening or closing. Really overdone.
Bleach's original opening, to me is the best I've seen. A great song, animation timed with the flow of the music rather than tacked on, and I think most of all, it really shows off the character and style designs of the manga.
Until I watched DN 20 today, I never realized how rated R the lyrics were.
I'm wondering if that will be changed when it comes to the states or they will make a new one or just use the first OP. (I mainly think this because if Adult Swim or whoever were to pick it up, that they wouldn't get FCCed to hell. They are american cowboys after all, and you can't really understand metal lyrics in the first place.)
Still a good song. I love the main singer's scream.
I like the Monster opening... it really suits the series.
poor little shinigame. Run, Run *ahahahahahahaha*
hmm... well its interesting ... i think it suites the show nicely though... all teh characters seem like if they listened to some kind of music itd be that genre of music. i have always wondered what if a screamo...hardcore..metalcore... grindcore w/e type of band did do an anime opening/ending...
and i think the best anime op/ed is evangelion ... i really liked it
itd be pretty sweet if Envy did the op/ed... theyre a screamo band from japan...
I think the new OP and ED are some of the worst I've ever heard. I like to HEAR my music, not be screamed at incoherently. Sorry, but these just add to the already-bad Death Note themes. Sigh.
i like the gantz op, it's pretty catchy.
but one of my favorites' is the gunslinger girl op.
the first op of cardcaptor sakura is also pretty good in my opinion, and the elfenlied op suits the darker elements of the show :)
Yeah, I agree with Kia. When I heard "What's Up People?!" I had a real "WTF?!" feel to it. It elicited more of an "...okay... moving on...." reaction than drawing me into the show itself.
As for series with fitting openings, I think that Gundam SeeD Destiny, while very disappointing to even the most diehard Gundam fans, has a tremendous lineup of openings, which all seem to somehow fit--I think they're great.
But as for my overall favorite opening... gotta be "Ichirin no Hana" from BLEACH. Everyone always gets caught up on "~asterick~" or "d-tecnolife," and those two are great and all, but in my opinion InH is much better seeing as it has just a much darker, epic, and dramatic vibe to it. Too bad it's going to take so long before Adult Swim reaches InH. ;_;
"Karenai de ichirin no hana"
Now that's a freaking intro! I really dig the new OP and ED for Death Note and I think it really fits with the last half of the series. Is it me or is L doing a Ten Shou Kyaku (Chun Li's rising spin kick move)?
on OPs, I would add the openings to Tenjou Tenge, Kikaider, Soultaker, Black Lagoon, Speed Grapher, Ergo Proxy, and Last Exile. I would also add the ending to Paradise Kiss.
Oh! can't forget about the openings to the Japanese version of Fox Kids' X-Men series.
Season 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKUSV8f-u-w
Season 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqnLwD4qOc8
pornish words?
Anyways, that’s a awesome intro! I really dig the new OP and ED for Death Note and I think it really fits with the last half of the series. Is it me or is L doing a Ten Shou Kyaku (Chun Li’s rising spin kick move)?
on OPs, I would add the openings to Tenjou Tenge, Kikaider, Soultaker, Black Lagoon, Speed Grapher, Ergo Proxy, and Last Exile. I would also add the ending to Paradise Kiss.
Oh! can’t forget about the 2 openings to the Japanese version of Fox Kids’ X-Men series
"Wrongest worstest stupidest OP/ED evar ohmygod" award goes to 'Freckles' of Rurouni Kenshin fame!
And I love the new DN OP/ED. A lot.
If you understand some of the underlying themes behind Death Note, the opening fits perfectly. On the surface it's got this huge "OMGWTF?" factor going on, watching the laughing Light's and dancing Ryuk and all this craziness that kinda doesn't fit the series serious tone, but the reason it does fit is because it's absolute insanity, and the line of insanity is an important theme in the series...
Love the visuals, love the disturbing effect the OP has on viewers, hate the music. The ED is at least slightly better, since it's a touch more hardcore than scream-metal and actually has some discernible melody.
Oh, and I second Freckles as one of the most ill-fitting openings ever, but hey, it's catchy!
I just remembered "Welcome to the NHK." That one has a super suger-y OP and a really weird ED, yet they both fit the plot rather well overall. Two sides of the same coin.
I don't know, looks a bit generic "trying to be ultra techno rock" looking.
I'd say the most innovative opening ever would be Cowboy Bebop's, you could recognize that retro styling anywhere.
I've also always loved the original Ah! My Goddess OVA opening.
Anyone else miss those old 80's/90's anime openings, with the sideviews of characters running against colored backgrounds?
bentobox: Ha ha, yeah, I remember those old segments of the openings, and I don't really miss them a bit. XD Actually, Full Metal Alchemist had a bit of that in its openings.
I'm actually a fan of what seems to have taken those sideviews' place--the frame with the mural-like picture of all the characters in the show, with the camera sweeping to show them all.
For an intresting one, I'd say check out Pumpkin Scissors. Aoki Flamme is a wierd song, but it helps get across some of the feeling of the show. The ending's just wierd, though: "Yay, I've just watched people get depressed, starve, get impaled, and shot in the face for 24 minutes. Now let's listen to a really happy pop song!"
I also quite liked the Hunter X Hunter opening by Wnio (I can't remember which op number it was, though) "The sun also shines at night" or something like that. It's a nice song, and the music whilst being a bit poppy helps get the bizzare dark feeling of that section of the series across.
Lol the Dn intro makes me laugh..i think its great that the animators decided to have a little fun with the Serious Anime storyline of death Note...so to me its a great change lol
live comments!
It's (arguably) somewhat of a cliché that the opening and ending themes for anime shows are, shall we say, a bit light and fluffy. This is perfect for the average magical girl, ninja boy, space battle, school drama, dragon adventure series, but what about the darker, more serious shows? Evangelion, probably one of the more (if not the most) dark and serious series out there, has a poppy, salsa-esque dance intro. Hell, even Gantz has a funky Rip Slyme tune in the opening. On the other hand, Monster, one of my personal favorites, has a suitably spooky opening, and its two ending themes were excellent, mostly due to the spooky illustrations. (Check out all the videos after the jump.)
Now we have the new opening for Death Note, which is causing a stir in various otaku camps. The song is "What's Up" by Maximum the Hormone, your typical rap/rock screamo-metal band. (Side note: When did metal bands stop worshiping Satan and start worshiping themselves? Guess what kids, Satan will always be way cooler than you.) Not only is the music loud and pummeling, the video is cut in such a way as to make the show look more like some high energy action series than the psychological chess game that it is. For me, this is what an opening should be. It grabs your attention and throws so much information at you that you are left a quivering mass of exposed nerve endings. That, or you hate it. Either way, one must admit that it's not your everyday anime opening.
What do you think? First, what do you think of the new Death Note opening? Second, what's your favorite, or which series do you think has the most innovative, OP/ED? Finally, what series do you think has the most totally wrongest worstest stupidest OP/ED evar ohmygod?
note: Check out the first season intro of Honey and Clover for another example.